Seroprevalence of Hepatitis A among Medical Students of a Tertiary Care Centre in Kerala, Southern India
Correspondence Address :
Dr. KA Jasmine,
Thanalkokkur, PO Changaramkulam, Malappuram-679591, Kerala, India.
E-mail: jasminedrsalim@gmail.com
Introduction: Hepatitis A Virus (HAV) is a major cause of acute viral hepatitis caused by a Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) virus. The mode of transmission is fecal-oral route and the risk factors include unsafe water, poor personal hygiene and sanitation. Even though seroprevalence rate is high in low socio-economic regions, it is low in urban areas and the need of vaccination is looked for.
Aim: To estimate the seroprevalence of hepatitis A in medical students of Southern India.
Materials and Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional study conducted in the medical students of Government Medical College, Manjeri, Kerala, India. Blood samples of 377 students during the year 2015-2018 were taken. These students were in their 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year MBBS course who admitted in the years 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively. Commercially available Enzyme-Linked Immunoassay (ELISA) kits for anti HAV IgG antibodies were used. Chi-square test was used for statistical analysis.
Results: Out of 377 participants 238 (63.2%) were females and 139 (36.8%) were males. A total of 51 (13.5%) were positive for IgG antibodies. A total of 43 were in 21-22 age group with a p-value >0.05. An association of seropositivity and seronegativity with frequency of dining out pattern was there with a p-value <0.05.
Conclusion: The seroprevalence of hepatitis A was found in a declining stage hence, vaccination against hepatitis A should be included in the National Immunisation Schedule.
Fecal-oral route, Infectious hepatitis, Immunisation, Young adults
10.7860/JCDR/2021/51137.15587
Date of Submission: Jun 30, 2021
Date of Peer Review: Aug 23, 2021
Date of Acceptance: Sep 27, 2021
Date of Publishing: Nov 01 2021
AUTHOR DECLARATION:
• Financial or Other Competing Interests: Funded by State Board for Medical Research, Kerala, India.
• Was Ethics Committee Approval obtained for this study? Yes
• Was informed consent obtained from the subjects involved in the study? Yes
• For any images presented appropriate consent has been obtained from the subjects. No
PLAGIARISM CHECKING METHODS:
• Plagiarism X-checker: Jul 02, 2021
• Manual Googling: Sep 17, 2021
• iThenticate Software: Oct 04, 2021 (11%)
Etymology: Author Origin
- Emerging Sources Citation Index (Web of Science, thomsonreuters)
- Index Copernicus ICV 2017: 134.54
- Academic Search Complete Database
- Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
- Embase
- EBSCOhost
- Google Scholar
- HINARI Access to Research in Health Programme
- Indian Science Abstracts (ISA)
- Journal seek Database
- Popline (reproductive health literature)
- www.omnimedicalsearch.com